Mohamed Makhzangi was born in Egypt and lives in Cairo. He practiced as a doctor for twelve years before turning to journalism and science writing, working in Kuwait on al-Arabi magazine. He has published several volumes of short stories, and translations of his work have appeared in five languages. In 1992, he won Egypt's Best Short Story Collection Award.

Chip Rossetti is the editorial director of the Library of Arabic Literature at New York University Press. His translations include Ahmed Khaled Towfik's Utopia and Sonallah Ibrahim's Beirut, Beirut.